RIP Butterfly Keyboard: Apple Finally Completes Transition to Magic Keyboard

After years of complaints over sticky or unresponsive keys, Apple has finally finished transitioning its notebook lineup away from its issue-prone butterfly keyboard.

With the new 13-inch MacBook Pro featuring the same scissor switch Magic Keyboard as the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple no longer sells any new MacBook Pro or MacBook Air models with a butterfly keyboard. If you are browsing Apple's refurbished store, however, be aware that many of those models are still equipped with the butterfly keyboard.

ifixit base 2019 13 inch macbook pro keyboard

Image: iFixit

First introduced on the 16-inch MacBook Pro last year, the Magic Keyboard features a redesigned scissor mechanism with 1mm of key travel, an inverted-"T" arrangement for the arrow keys, and a physical Escape key next to the Touch Bar.

Models with more reliable Magic Keyboard:

  • 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro
  • 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro
  • 2020 MacBook Air

Apple's butterfly keyboard suffered from issues with sticky, repeating, or nonfunctional keys. The company continues to offer free repairs to affected customers as part of its worldwide service program, and it even apologized over the matter last year, although it downplayed the issue and said that only a "small number" of customers were impacted.

Popular Stories

Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...

Top Rated Comments

Skeith Avatar
68 months ago
Thank you for beta testing everyone.
Score: 63 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blackstick Avatar
68 months ago
I manage a small IT department, on a population of 2200 Macs, we had 378 keyboard (top case) repairs logged through GSX in 2019. Don't buy butterfly keyboard Macs, folks. On a population of 6300 Dell Latitudes, we submitted 41 keyboard repairs for 2019, respectively.

Hoping these Magic Keyboards take us back to 2015, 12 MacBook top case repairs out of ~900 Macs - for the year.
Score: 55 Votes (Like | Disagree)
joelhinch Avatar
68 months ago
You won’t be missed.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sofila Avatar
68 months ago
I just recall a long list of forum members explaining us why this keyboard was incredible and any issue mentioned was just a form of unjustified hatred. "Mine works perfectly" attitude.

Now I wonder, what weight should I give to them from now on?
All this arrogance, all these irrefutable certainties thrown into the toilet.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dguisinger Avatar
68 months ago

I honestly think most of the naysayers didn’t actually own one. I owned all three generations of the keyboard and never had an issue. None of my coworkers who have various iterations of the keyboard have had issues. I’m not saying issues didn’t exist, but like most issues reported in this forum, I highly suspect they’re massively overblown.
Apple apologists never stop twisting themselves into pretzels trying to defend what after 3 years was clearly one of the worst and most expensive decisions in the company's history. I find it utterly amazing that there are still people who try to act like those of us who had multiple keyboard/topcase replacements were just loud and obnoxious and didn't own them. My 2017 MBP was in need of its 3rd keyboard replacement when i traded it in for a 16" MBP -- and I have owned a MB Air (with the same keyboard design) since my MBP's keyboard first failed on a business trip and I needed a computer while Apple repaired it. Sure, I could have returned it within 30 days and not gotten stuck with the expense, but given all the reports it was a good decision, seeing the keyboard failed two more times. But having to buy a backup to a brand new $3500 laptop just so I can keep typing means YES, I am going to complain like hell about the issue.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ouimetnick Avatar
68 months ago
Another quality Jony Ive innovation. He had a good run as well?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)